By MLF Communications Staff

EUFAULA, Okla. – Rising water. Falling water. Muddy water. Clearing water. Fish moving into flooded brush and onto beds.

Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula has provided multiple pieces to a 102,000-acre puzzle through four days of competition at the Bass Pro Tour event. On Friday, pro Takahiro Omori of Tokyo, Japan, put the puzzle pieces together best.

Omori entered the day in second place in Group B, trailing leader Martin Villa of Charlottesville, Va., by 3 pounds, 10 ounces. But casting and winding a vibrating jig and dabbing a creature bait around flooded brush and docks in a creek arm of the Canadian River on Friday, Omori connected with nine fish for 22-8 to bring his two-day total to 53-14. He outpaced Randy Howell of Guntersville, Ala. (47-11), Villa (41-9) and Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Ill. (36-6) for Group B bragging rights heading into Saturday’s Knockout Round.

The remaining 20 anglers – The top 10 from each group – now advance to the Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round on Sunday. Weights are again zeroed for the Championship Round and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

You’d have to look long and hard to identify an angler in the 79-man Bass Pro Tour field who’s better suited to capitalize on a recently flooded lake and a shallow-water bite than Omori. The Japanese pro has collected over $3 million in tournament winnings in his 28-year pro career – making him one of the Top 10 money-winners of all time – largely due to his shallow-water, power-fishing prowess.

“This might be the only chance I have to win a tournament this year,” Omori said. “This is my strength: fishing shallow water, power-fishing. Muddy, shallow water like this is where I’ve won a lot of money in my career fishing, I’m excited for a tournament like this. This is how I like to fish.”

Omori had a surge in the second and third periods Friday that separated him from Howell. He admitted on camera multiple times on MLFNOW! that he was “mostly practicing,” but continued to catch fish throughout the day despite being safe from the cut after he caught a 3-pound largemouth just seven minutes into Period 1. Noting Eufaula’s dropping water levels and rapidly changing water clarity, Omori believes the fish he caught on Friday won’t be in the same cover and depth come the Knockout Round.

“If you can catch fish, you probably should keep catching them; there’s no guarantee the next day,” he said. “This lake is going to be fresh and brand new (on Saturday). The water has started dropping a lot and is cleaning up, so fish are changing. It’s going to be brand new (in the Knockout Round), so I’ll have to make good adjustments.”

Omori caught the bulk of his fish winding a chartreuse-and-white Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a 5-inch Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ around flooded brush, haygrass and docks, and connected with one bedding fish with a Zoom Brush Hog. As he ties tackle for the Knockout Round, Omori plans to take whatever Eufaula gives him and adjust on the fly, knowing that he’ll likely be sharing creek pockets and bays with anglers from the other competition group.

“I have a couple of other guys (from Group B) fishing the same creek, and I bet there will be more from the other group,” Omori said. “This lake is over 100,000 acres, but it fishes really small. I won’t be surprised on Saturday if half the field is there. It’s getting a lot of fishing pressure already.”

Oklahoma's Zack Birge will be fishing the Knockout Round in his home state, thanks to a 3-10 largemouth he caught off a bed with just over 20 minutes remaining in the third period. Birge entered the day in 15th place and climbed into the Top 10 in the second period before falling out as the afternoon progressed. He spotted two fish on beds late in the day and ended up adding both to ScoreTracker – a 2-3 and the 3-10 that boosted him back into the Knockout Round.

South Carolina's Britt Myers’ stout season continued despite a harrowing third period and thanks to a late-day catch that pushed him into the Knockout Round. The North Carolina pro fell from sixth place to below the cutline in the final period as he went fishless for just over three hours. That cold streak was broken with a 4-2 largemouth that bit a worm on a shaky-head with 11 minutes left in the final period to push Myers to eighth place in the group.

Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award Villa, who weighed in a 6-10 largemouth that bit his wacky rig in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

Anglers launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from the Peter’s Point-Nichols Point Boat Ramp, located on Dabbs Road in Eufaula. Each day’s takeout is held at the boat ramp beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

The event features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the ScoreTracker leaderboard. Anglers are competing with a 1-8 minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.



Qualifying Group B – Day 2

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler’s heaviest fish for the day)

1. Takahiro Omori -- 31-06 (12) -- 22-08 (9) -- 53-14 (21) -- 4-06

2. Randy Howell -- 31-01 (13) -- 16-10 (7) -- 47-11 (20) -- 2-15

3. Martin Villa -- 34-15 (13) -- 6-10 (1) -- 41-09 (14) -- 6-10

4. Drew Gill -- 23-03 (10) -- 13-03 (6) -- 36-06 (16) -- 4-02

5. Skeet Reese -- 19-13 (8) -- 15-10 (8) -- 35-07 (16) -- 2-08

6. Britt Myers -- 18-11 (7) -- 14-15 (4) -- 33-10 (11) -- 5-05

7. Cole Floyd -- 26-09 (10) -- 6-10 (3) -- 33-03 (13) -- 3-02

8. Gerald Spohrer -- 10-00 (4) -- 22-12 (9) -- 32-12 (13) -- 3-11

9. Jeff Sprague -- 19-02 (7) -- 13-08 (5) -- 32-10 (12) -- 3-06

10. Zack Birge -- 11-03 (5) -- 20-10 (9) -- 31-13 (14) -- 3-10

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Knockout Round

11. Terry Scroggins -- 15-00 (8) -- 16-06 (9) -- 31-06 (17) -- 2-01

12. John Hunter -- 3-08 (1) -- 24-04 (10) -- 27-12 (11) -- 4-02

13. Gary Klein -- 16-04 (6) -- 11-04 (4) -- 27-08 (10) -- 4-03

14. John Murray -- 13-11 (6) -- 11-11 (5) -- 25-06 (11) -- 3-06

15. Jesse Wiggins -- 8-07 (4) -- 15-09 (8) -- 24-00 (12) -- 2-12

16. Ott DeFoe -- 16-14 (5) -- 6-03 (3) -- 23-01 (8) -- 3-01

17. Jacob Wall -- 12-07 (5) -- 7-12 (4) -- 20-03 (9) -- 2-06

18. Bobby Lane -- 13-09 (5) -- 6-08 (3) -- 20-01 (8) -- 3-01

19. Greg Vinson -- 9-03 (2) -- 10-11 (5) -- 19-14 (7) -- 3-12

20. Nick Hatfield -- 5-12 (3) -- 12-14 (5) -- 18-10 (8) -- 3-12

21. David Walker -- 4-01 (2) -- 14-02 (5) -- 18-03 (7) -- 3-10

22. Matt Lee -- 7-03 (4) -- 10-01 (4) -- 17-04 (8) -- 4-11

23. Ron Nelson -- 9-02 (4) -- 7-05 (2) -- 16-07 (6) -- 4-07

24. Adrian Avena -- 0-00 (0) -- 16-02 (7) -- 16-02 (7) -- 3-06

25. Stephen Browning -- 4-11 (2) -- 11-03 (4) -- 15-14 (6) -- 3-14

26. Edwin Evers -- 4-04 (2) -- 10-00 (2) -- 14-04 (4) -- 5-01

27. Fletcher Shryock -- 1-09 (1) -- 9-11 (4) -- 11-04 (5) -- 3-08

28. Matt Becker -- 7-02 (3) -- 4-01 (2) -- 11-03 (5) -- 2-04

29. Colby Schrumpf -- 5-04 (2) -- 5-07 (3) -- 10-11 (5) -- 2-07

30. Keith Poche -- 5-11 (3) -- 5-00 (3) -- 10-11 (6) -- 1-13

31. Spencer Shuffield -- 2-09 (1) -- 7-01 (3) -- 9-10 (4) -- 3-14

32. David Dudley -- 3-12 (2) -- 5-11 (3) -- 9-07 (5) -- 2-01

33. Josh Bertrand -- 7-02 (3) -- 1-14 (1) -- 9-00 (4) -- 1-14

34. Ryan Salzman -- 8-12 (3) -- 0-00 (0) -- 8-12 (3) -- 0-00

35. Scott Suggs -- 5-03 (3) -- 3-04 (2) -- 8-07 (5) -- 1-12

36. James Elam -- 4-07 (2) -- 3-09 (2) -- 8-00 (4) -- 1-13

37. Jacopo Gallelli -- 1-09 (1) -- 5-15 (2) -- 7-08 (3) -- 3-15

38. Michael Neal -- 3-12 (2) -- 3-04 (1) -- 7-00 (3) -- 3-04

39. Fred Roumbanis -- 0-00 (0) -- 3-12 (2) -- 3-12 (2) -- 2-04

40. Joshua Weaver -- 0-00 (0) -- 3-09 (2) -- 3-09 (2) -- 1-15